Agni Yajna and the Days of the Week

The rishis said

Lord, please tell us in order about agni yajna, deva yajna, brahma yajna, worship of the guru and satisfying brahmanas.

Suta said

Offering oblations into the fire is called agni yajna. For those in the brahmacharya stage it is also called samidhadana, offering kindling. Brahmanas, until oupasana, for people in the first ashrama, the specific vow to the fire is through kindling. Those who have retired to the forest and mendicants have consigned the fire into their selves; their welfare lies in eating little, and that act of eating is itself an oblation. Those who have begun oupasana must carefully protect the sacrificial fire in a pit or vessel and guard it from the wind. If the king or destiny interferes, the fire must be preserved inside the self or in the arani. When the usual fire has to be given up out of fear, this is called depositing the fire. Brahmanas, offering oblations to the fire in the evening is known to ensure prosperity, and offering oblations to the sun in the morning to give long life. During the day the fire enters the sun, so this too is called agni yajna. Offering oblations to Indra and all gods through the fire is deva yajna. This is beneficial and can take the form of rites like offering cooked food in the earthen vessel in which it was cooked. Acts like the first haircut are done with an ordinary fire. When a brahmana practises brahma yajna, he satisfies the gods. Studying the Vedas is called brahma yajna, and everyone is advised to practise it always, without specific rules. But there is also deva yajna without fire. Hear of it faithfully and lovingly.

Mahadeva is all-knowing and an ocean of compassion. At the beginning of creation, for the welfare of all the worlds, the lord thought of the different days of the week. The all-knowing physician of samsara is the supreme medicine among medicines. For good health the lord made the first day his own. After that, by his own maya, he gave a boon to his son. There were hardships at his birth, and to tide over these the next day was for Kumara; the lord thought of it to overcome laziness. For preserving the worlds, Vishnu became the protector, and for protection and nourishment the lord thought of the next day for him. The next day increases life span and was for the giver of long life, Parameshthi Brahma, maker of the three worlds; the lord thought of it so that the world's life span might lengthen. In the beginning, so that the three worlds might flourish, he thought of virtue and sin, and accordingly the gods of the next two days became Indra and Yama. Next he thought of giving the worlds pleasures and taking away death. The natures of Aditya and the others are such that they signify happiness and unhappiness. At the beginning these gods of the days were thought of as established in the circle of luminaries in the sky. Worshipped on their own days they give their own fruits, in order: good health, prosperity, destruction of ailments, nourishment, long life, enjoyment of pleasures and prevention of death. It is said that worshipping the respective gods on the different days of the week brings the respective fruits. But even if other gods are worshipped, it is really Shiva who gives the fruits.

To please the gods, five kinds of worship have been thought of: japa of a mantra, offering oblations, giving, austerities, and worship of the image on an altar, in front of the fire or before a brahmana. The worship should be done with the sixteen offerings. Of the five, each later one is better than the one before, and if the earlier cannot be done, the later is followed. To calm ailments of the eyes or head, or to cure leprosy, Aditya is worshipped and brahmanas fed for a day, a month, a year or three years. If a person's ripened karma is strong enough, this destroys disease, old age and the like. Know that doing japa for a god gives the fruits matching that day. The first day of the week is special for calming sin, and offerings are to be made on that day. For gods and brahmanas, Aditya's day is special.

For prosperity a learned person worships Lakshmi and others on Monday with rice mixed with ghee, or feeds brahmanas with their wives. To calm ailments, Kali and others are worshipped on Tuesday. Brahmanas may be fed with gram, mudga and an adhaka of rice. A learned person worships Vishnu on Wednesday with curd and rice, and sons, friends and wives will always be nourished. To gain nourishment and long life he worships the gods on Thursday with a sacred thread, garments, and milk and ghee. To gain pleasures a person controls himself and worships the gods on Friday; brahmanas are satisfied with cooked food having the six flavours, and their wives with gifts of garments and other auspicious things. To ward off untimely death he worships Rudra and others on Saturday, offering sesame oblations, and gives and feeds with cooked food mixed with sesame. Having worshipped so, a learned person gains good health and other benefits. In daily worship of the gods, special worship, bathing, giving, japa, oblations, satisfying brahmanas, worshipping the gods when stars conjoin on certain tithis or on the first or other days, it is the all-knowing lord of the universe who takes all those particular forms and gives good health and other fruits. This depends on the time, place and recipient. The objects used depend on the extent of devotion and local custom. Gradually the divinity carries one across and gives good health and other things. For good health and prosperity a householder should worship Aditya and the planets when an auspicious period starts, when an inauspicious one ends, and when his birth star is in the ascendant. Worship of the gods yields all the desired fruits. Brahmanas use mantras, others do not. As far as he can, a man should always do this. One who wants auspicious fruits does it on the seven days. The poor worship the gods through austerities and the rich through wealth. Full of devotion they repeatedly do these acts of dharma. Having enjoyed all kinds of pleasures, they are born on earth again. To enjoy pleasures always and extend them, all the rich should gather dharma by planting shade trees, digging tanks and establishing the brahman. After some time, when these auspicious acts mature, he gains success in acquiring knowledge. Brahmanas, if a man reads this chapter, hears it or has it heard, he gains the fruits of a deva yajna.